Review: Borderlands 2 sure does provide more Borderlands, all right

Sequel keeps the appeal of the original while making improvements at the margins.

Game Details

Developer: Gearbox SoftwarePublisher: 2K GamesPlatform: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, PCRelease Date: Septeber 18, 2012Price: $59.99Links:Official website | Steam | Amazon
There are two basic models for video game sequels. The first is to simply add more content of the type people have come to expect from the previous game, without significantly changing what has already proven successful in the first place. The second is to use the core of the previous game as a starting point for significant tinkering, experimenting with major new gameplay systems and designs that weren't plausible for one reason or another the last time around.

Most games exist somewhere in a continuum between these two poles, trying to keep some of the old while embracing their fair share of new elements. For better or worse, Borderlands 2 positions itself closer to the "more of the same" pole. This is still the same basic, enjoyable first-person-shooter-meets-RPG-style-character-progression of the first Borderlands, only more so.

The most significant change Borderlands 2 can boast over its predecessor is a cohesive plot that actually hangs together reasonably well and drives the story missions forward at a decent pace. The connective tissue tying the story together is Handsome Jack, an explorer who has leveraged his discovery of a vault full of treasures into an iron-fisted despotic rulership over the powerful Hyperion corporation and the planet of Pandora. Jack is an entirely believable villain, with just the right mix of charm, sanctimony, and psychosis coming through in both his actions and frequent radio banter with the protagonists.

The effort to unseat Jack and infiltrate his vault provides a strong focal point for the game's story missions, which do a good job of integrating the playable characters from the first Borderlands as key supporting characters. Even the side missions feel united by a sense of purpose and direction that was one of the biggest omissions from the first Borderlands. This time around, you'll want to play to see what happens next, not just to hear the next hilarious one-liner from the game's psychotic cast of characters (though those are still plentiful as well).

The other big change in Borderlands 2 comes in the game's playable class structure. The melee-enhanced Berserker has been replaced this time around by a "Gunzerker" class that can briefly dual wield any two weapons, making for some enjoyably over-the-top combinations (I particularly enjoyed simultaneously using a shotgun in one hand and a rocket launcher in the other, which I can't recall ever doing in a first-person shooter). I also enjoyed the new Assassin class, which comes with the extremely useful ability to escape with the aid of a temporary decoy, and can use skill tree upgrades that make him a quality melee attacker.

I was less impressed with Maya, the new playable Siren, whose ability to Phaselock a single enemy in place for a short period is much less interesting and useful than Lillith's invisible Phasewalk from the first game. And the Sabre Turret of the new Commando class is missing the shield that provided such crucial, instant cover at any time and place in the first game, making it feel like a distinct downgrade (though you can eventually unlock a turret shield through a skill tree later in the game). A fifth character class, the Mechromancer, will be released as $10 DLC on October 16.

Most of the other changes in this sequel seem to come at the margins. You can look at your inventory during a co-operative match without holding everybody else up, and compare guns directly more easily before switching them out. There's a mini-map in the corner to guide you to objectives more easily. You can crawl a bit when you're dying to reach a helpful companion. There's a collection of mini-achievements that give you small stat boosts that you can carry across to other characters on the same save file, and so on.

These are all nice additions, but feel like things that should have been in the first game rather than improvements that really change the feel of the sequel. The core structure of straightforward missions that ask you to find item X, kill Y number of enemy Z, or race to deposit Q of item L is almost totally unchanged, even if those missions are driven by a stronger core story this time around.

Borderlands' almost fetishistic love for a wide variety of guns continues in the sequel. It's probably even been expanded, if someone bothered to count the number of distinct weapons in each game. Frankly, my eyes started to glaze over after a while just from the basic effort of comparing every new potential pickup to my current gun options. Is a pistol that does 146 damage at 4.7 shots per second better than one that fires two 75 damage bullets at 5.6 shots per second? Is it still better if it has a magazine that's ten bullets smaller and a reload time that's two seconds longer? Rather than answering these kinds of mental algebra problems, I usually stuck with a few weapons that seemed to work until I stumbled upon new ones that were better in every measurable way.

While I was able to stick with a go-to rapid fire pistol for much of Borderlands 2, the game is good about throwing out situations that forced me to dip into my backup weaponry, to make use of their key benefits against certain types of enemies or just to account for a different tactical situation. The inventory system still makes it relatively painless to juggle this kind of necessary back bench of gun inventory and switch between them without much difficulty.

The impressively wide array of enemies (many of which are slightly altered holdovers from the first Borderlands) are altogether more aggressive this time around, often working together in groups to flank players and make it hard to simply back off slowly and continue firing apace. More than that, the AI system seemed to imbue different enemies with distinct personalities, from shy snipers that constantly run for cover to blitzing Goliaths that actually take out other enemies in their all-consuming rage (leveling up as they do).

Despite the general enemy smarts on display, though, there were a few notable occasions where the AI system seemed to just break, like enemies that failed to turn around as I shot them repeatedly in the back, or robots that fired rockets blankly into a wall rather than simply stepping around a corner to get to me. Such occurrences weren't frequent, but happened often enough to be noticeable.

And Borderlands 2 is still much more enjoyable when played cooperatively, allowing players to make use of multiple class skills and specialties to fill in each others' deficiencies. The game re-balances enemy difficulty when new players come in, but overall I felt the game was tuned a bit too heavily against single players, who still regularly face overwhelming hordes of enemies without the benefit of companions to provide a distraction. The matchmaking and enemy auto-leveling systems still make it next to impossible to play with someone who is more than a few levels away from you, which can be frustrating, but might not be a practical issue if you have a consistent group of co-op friends to play with regularly.

All the similarities between the second Borderlands game and the first don't make the sequel any less fun to play. On the contrary, the basic formula of shooting big groups of enemies in an effort to get bigger numbers out of your weapons and character statistics is just as appealing as ever, especially if you have a group of friends to play with. But if you feel you got your fill of the basic formula the first time around, don't go into this sequel expecting the marginal changes will re-ignite your passion. This is a game that takes a lot of steps toward refining the experience of the first Borderlands, but not too many steps that actually move the series forward or open it up in a significant way.

Versioning note: The game was tested primarily on the Xbox 360 to facilitate easier co-op multiplayer during the press preview. The PC version features mouse-and-keyboard controls for those who prefer it, but I found the dual-stick controls on the console were more than adequate. The PC version also supports a noticeably smoother frame rate and sharper graphics than its console cousin, for players that have the hardware to handle it (we tested using our awesome sponsored rig, provided by Velocity Micro).

Update: The original version of this review implied that some new features listed as marginal improvements were already available in the original game. Ars Technica regrets the error.

The Good:

Cohesive, well-paced story with a strong antagonist

New Gunzerker and Assassin classes are fun to play

More aggressive enemies act intelligently

Ridiculous variety of weapons, all with their uses

Incredibly satisfying co-operative multiplayer

Lots of marginal interface and gameplay improvements

The Bad

Changes to Siren and Soldier classes are for the worse

Occasional AI issues

Game doesn't feel as balanced when played single player

The Ugly

Trying to join your friends' Level 28 game when you only have a Level 18 character.

Verdict: Buy It

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

108 Reader Comments

You could pick up multiple items with a single button in the first game too, at least with money. I think the issue was if a gun was part of the item pile you picked up, it would automatically be equipped and replace your current gun.

Anyway, very much looking forward to Borderlands 2. Got a 4 pack ready to go this weekend. I'm a little sad to hear about Phaselock though. Lilith was my character for the first game. Very much interested in trying out Gaige though.

Also, loved that launch trailer with all 8 Vault Hunters together. I love throwbacks like that in a sequel, like The Passing in Left 4 Dead 2. It makes me giddy.

My final hope is that the PC version is full Steamworks integrated and I don't need GameSpy to play multiplayer again.

The ugly portion which was mentioned in the review also pertains to the single player campaign. For example: Try to get a Lvl 16/17 char to complete a Lvl 20 bounty board request. You'll see how difficult it is, the damage to higher level characters gets intentionally reduced.

"for significant tinkering,8 experimenting with major new" in the first paragraph :|

Fixed, nice!

I have to agree with some of the sentiment on the game reviews, from reading this article I have no idea whether I would actually enjoy the game, what is fun about it or why i should buy it over another shooter. Where's the actual review? It reads more like a comparison to Borderlands 1.

The bullet points at the end are great but I don't see them being elaborated in the actual story. Having never played the original borderlands I'd appreciate more detail. It's clear Kyle has played it significantly, hinting on how he had to use the breadth of weapons available etc, but there's just not enough detail!

I'm playing it because it's something to do with my friends. Co-operative storyline? I'm sold. How good a game it actually is comes in a distant second on my care level.

I would buy a lot more games if they had co-operative storyline modes like the borderlands games. I've bought probably 6 copies of the original borderlands at this point. I also bought dead island, all of the L4Ds, and a plurality of Arma 2 OA licenses and set up a server for DayZ for this purpose as well... Though I suppose the latter was just because it felt like something we could all work together on.

I'm playing it because it's something to do with my friends. Co-operative storyline? I'm sold. How good a game it actually is comes in a distant second on my care level.

I would buy a lot more games if they had co-operative storyline modes like the borderlands games. I've bought probably 6 copies of the original borderlands at this point. I also bought dead island, all of the L4Ds, and a plurality of Arma 2 OA licenses and set up a server for DayZ for this purpose as well... Though I suppose the latter was just because it felt like something we could all work together on.

I want more co-op games.

Agreed, while there have definitely been some good ones (Orcs Must Die 2 was great co-op fun, especially if you haven't played the first one), more would be appreciated.

There doesn't seem to be any reviews about the two major gripes I had with the original.

1) I may as well be shooting spit balls at the enemy when I take on anything higher level then I.2) Very little number of NPCs to interact with.

I didn't care so much about NPCs, but point 1 became very annoying in the last two DLC packs where enemies were always designed to be higher levels than you. I've never felt so weak being so near max level in a game.

I can't tell if you're being snarky for some reason or if there's a genuine technical problem.

I've been really excited about this game and hoped for a bit more. I'd liked to have known how it ran a bit more, more impressions, more about the guns, more about the quests and how the zoning worked if it changed. This just felt a bit like a preview.

There doesn't seem to be any reviews about the two major gripes I had with the original.

1) I may as well be shooting spit balls at the enemy when I take on anything higher level then I.2) Very little number of NPCs to interact with.

I didn't care so much about NPCs, but point 1 became very annoying in the last two DLC packs where enemies were always designed to be higher levels than you. I've never felt so weak being so near max level in a game.

I know my friends stopped playing because of 1. The lack of NPCs, apart from things that wants to kill me, made the game feel somewhat shallow to me.

Hate to make it a gang-pile here, but this is not a review, it is a comparison of Borderlands 2 to Borderlands 1!

If you have never played Borderlands 1 and might be interested, this review is completely useless to you, and frankly is a shocking disservice to one of the biggest gaming releases of the year.

I know Ars is not a dedicated gaming site, but I have always used the site as a primary source of good reviews of and comments on games that matter. I didnt always agree with Ben Kuchera, but I could always respect his reviews even when I thought he was dead fucking wrong (Godhand) about a game. I have never been one of the Kyle Sucks, bring back Ben types either, but damn. This is weaksauce.

Hmmm. I can't quite tell from the review (plus it's early here and the coffee hasn't kicked in yet) but what sort of game is this? Is it an FPS in the same way that 'Halo' and 'Bioshock' are, or is it different? ('Skyrim' with guns?)

Would it be a good purchase for someone like me that only plays the single player campaign part? I've never really been into multiplayer stuff.

I'm playing through borderlands for the first time right now and you give the impression that either you never played the original borderlands or you have not played it since 2009.

All of these features that you list as new are in the original game:

> you can pick up all the loot in front of you just by holding down a button, rather than picking up items one by one.

>compare guns directy before switching them out.

> There's split-screen multiplayer now,

> You can reset your acquired skills for a small fee.

The pick up was mentioned earlier in this thread. It may now be improved, so state how it's improved. I don't have the game running but I'm pretty sure there is a reset skill/fee in the screen where you edit your character colors (in the teleport terminals), you always could compare guns.

GreyAreyUK, I've only played Borderlands 1, so I'll describe that, on the assumption that they're pretty much the same.

Borderlands is more like a cross between an FPS and games like Diablo. You're mostly in a first-person perspective, and you're mostly using guns. The classes are distinctly different, and each has a choice of a couple of styles of play, though the effects of skill points are much less than the effects of modifiers on equipment, particularly the guns. Much of the fun is trying out different weapons and seeing how they perform. The story is thin, but there's plenty of style, in an 80s science fiction crapsack world sort of way. The gameplay can be a bit repetitive, but it's easy to put down and pick up again when you feel like it.

GreyAreyUK, I've only played Borderlands 1, so I'll describe that, on the assumption that they're pretty much the same.

Borderlands is more like a cross between an FPS and games like Diablo. You're mostly in a first-person perspective, and you're mostly using guns. The classes are distinctly different, and each has a choice of a couple of styles of play, though the effects of skill points are much less than the effects of modifiers on equipment, particularly the guns. Much of the fun is trying out different weapons and seeing how they perform. The story is thin, but there's plenty of style, in an 80s science fiction crapsack world sort of way. The gameplay can be a bit repetitive, but it's easy to put down and pick up again when you feel like it.

Borderlands 1 is pretty cheap, relatively.

Thanks for that. I've never actually played 'Diablo' though, so still a bit mystified. Was my 'Skyrim with guns' comparison apt, or is it more of a 'Left4Dead' style game? (I played the first one but it never really clicked with me, as I was obviously playing a single player game that was designed to only be properly played by two or more people).

I think I've got enough of an impression to make it worth a risk though, so thanks again for the info.

This is probably the first review of a game I've cared about since Ben left and I don't want to be negative, but that was weak. The list of "new" features that were already in BL1 should be particularly embarrassing.

>Now you can pick up all the loot in front of you just by holding down a button, rather than picking up items one by one.<>You can reset your acquired skills for a small fee.<

Several people have mentioned you could pick up all items by holding down a button in the first game. Actually, both of those features were in the original Borderlands. You could reset your skills for a fee at any of the fast travel stations. It's right there under changing your character's name and clothing colors.That the reviewer goes on to say "These are all nice additions, but feel like things that should have been in the first game...." doesn't serve very well to give the reader confidence in his familiarity with this series.

The link by the reviewer's picture goes to his Twitter page which has a link to his website. That link is dead. That doesn't show a lot of techno savvy for a "technica" website.

how is the difficulty? is it as ridiculously easy as borderlands 1? do we have to do a second playthrough to get a challenge? while borderlands 1 was great i refuse to play the same game twice just to get a harder, more enjoyable experience.

GreyAreyUK, I've only played Borderlands 1, so I'll describe that, on the assumption that they're pretty much the same.

Actually I've just read the review over at IGN and it seems to be a sort of cross between 'Bioshock' and 'Red Dead Redemption', which means I'm about to lay some money down..:-)

That IGN description is actually inaccurate, its more like Mad Max as first person shooter with rpg elements layered on top of it, or more literally fall out 3 with a faster pace and a lot of crude humor. But it however is not like Bioshock and RDR combined. Though the first was was some of the most fun I've ever had with and FPS and I'm generally not into shooters so even if this one is just like the first I know I'll still enjoy it.

I'm obviously not the kind of gamer B2 was marketed to, since I found the original one to be dull, repetitive, and terribly unexciting.To be honest, from the way the original game was presented in the trailers, I thought it would've at least been like Left4Dead with more mad max and less zombies. In other words, I didn't expect the single-player mode to be so literal where I'm crossing the desert wastelands by myself with no teammates (and nobody seemed to play this game in South Africa so online was out the door).

If Borederlands 2 (pun intended) is more of the same, then count me out.

You could pick up multiple items with a single button in the first game too, at least with money. I think the issue was if a gun was part of the item pile you picked up, it would automatically be equipped and replace your current gun.

The concept in the first one was different. On cash/ammo, press+hold sucked it all in. Target cash and hold button, you got all the cash and ammo nearby. On guns, press+hold equated to "replace my current weapon with this one," which was nice if you found a sweet gun on the ground, insta-equip.

Quote:

My final hope is that the PC version is full Steamworks integrated and I don't need GameSpy to play multiplayer again.

Check out KUCHERAAAAAA's review over on Penny Arcade. In short - PC version is no longer the pile of shit it was with BL1, now it is fully and totally awesome, plus it looks better than any other version. And yeah, Steam is all integrated and happy.

It's pretty clear that Kyle wasn't much of a BL1 player, because several of the things mentioned are NOT clear at all or are incorrect when viewed in comparison to BL1. This is more of a comparison between BL1 & 2, as others have said.

Hardness in single-player has always been there. This is a game designed for co-op. Also, BL1 always put an enemy at 1 or 2 levels above you as "pretty tough." Crawmerax was "only" 4 levels above a maxxed out character, and even using glitches to freeze it in place and whaling on it with a sniper (spec'd for crit bonuses) with ridiculous legendary-status guns, it still takes my brother and I a good 5-10 minutes to kill the damn thing. I would've been disappointed had they not carried this into BL2. It forces you to grind a little bit... which forces you to re-play areas, re-open chests, and get more awesome loot, which is the crux of the game after all.

One addition worth noting (I haven't personally tested yet, but this was covered in the intro video on XBL) -- while split-screen itself is not new, the ability to take a split-screen game on XBL (and presumably the Playstation equivalent) is a new addition, and very welcome for people who want to do a 3-way (or 4-way) co-op setup with only 2 systems and 2 copies of the game.

Also not mentioned, you can hot-add (and presumably hot-drop) a 2nd player from a split-screen game, this wasn't possible in BL1.

My brother and I played BL1 almost every weekend since its release, continuously, until about 4 months ago when we FINALLY got bored of it. No hacks, no item duping, but a crapload of Craw runs. We can run through almost the entire core story in playthrough 1 in about 8 hours, including all of the side quests. You might say we were just a little obsessed with the game.

I picked up my ultimate loot chest edition earlier but I have been working, plus I'm waiting to play until my regular co-op partner has time.

I think the OP was referring to "horizontal split screen" when they write "split screen". They might also have been referring to "online split screen", which wasn't in the original, right?

They might have also been referring to "automatic ammo/ energy" pickups, which was mentioned as a replacement for the manual system in place in the first game (a-la "God of War", etc).

Anyway, could anyone confirm if the following things have been improved/ fixed since the first version. I'm a PS3 owner, so some of these might be exclusively to the PS3:

- a bank/ room/storage area for loot/ guns (like in MMUR DLC).

- improved vehicle controls (i got used to them in the original, but they weren't intuitive and detracted from the game at the start)

- online bugs:

- (couldn't add friends/ block users on PSN from the game and had to pause the game and use the xmb to manually add/block users grim memory).- mission- breaking bugs ("Find Tanis", etc) or bugs that wouldn't allow users to complete missions/ start new ones (this was at least subdued by the lack of a coherent story, in a bizarre twist).

- mic problems on PSN (didn't always work, couldn't always block others' mics, or hear those trying to use them, even if you didn't have one yourself, etc).

- improved player hosting/ online servers (how many times have PSN users have had to reboot their systems after an online match bugged out?)

- improved matchmaking tools (avoiding users in Europe with bad connections, instead of waiting into "ten seconds" before disconnecting and looking for someone else). Also, more options for users to communicate as to why they were booted out of a match (ie: "the host has left the game", rather than "the host has removed you from the game") and a way for users to either block themselves from playing together again if one or parties (rightly or wrongly) don't want to play together.- avoiding the "player reset to level 1 soldier" after attempting to play online straight after being booted out of a game.

- a menu driven way to swap weapons (annoying to try and be generous with loot when others, not knowing what you are trying to di, run away from your loot and then fast travel/ mistakenly infer you are menu spamming and boot you while your loot is on the floor)

Actually, it isn't all ready, but you go ahead and think what you want.

You know that how? Ready now or in less than a month, it's a transparent grab for more money.

Just like everyone else that releases additions or alterations to their products for extra cost that you aren't required to buy... Damn them! Damn them all!

Side note: Pre-ordering the game included that DLC for free when it is released.

I've bought dozens of sequels and add ons - maybe Blue Shift was the first? - but never will buy content split off from a full-price game for offer less than a month after release. You defend that practise all you like, I'm just not understanding why anyone would.

Actually, it isn't all ready, but you go ahead and think what you want.

You know that how? Ready now or in less than a month, it's a transparent grab for more money.

Just like everyone else that releases additions or alterations to their products for extra cost that you aren't required to buy... Damn them! Damn them all!

Side note: Pre-ordering the game included that DLC for free when it is released.

I've bought dozens of sequels and add ons - maybe Blue Shift was the first? - but never will buy content split off from a full-price game for offer less than a month after release. You defend that practise all you like, I'm just not understanding why anyone would.

Just some FYI, they did not start working on the extra DLC until after the game went gold, and at that point they are just waiting for the disc to be pressed and shipped. It isn't like this character was created, then ripped from the game and withheld just to charge you more later.